IslamicFinance.de

According to announcement, Emirates NBD's Islamic unit plans will start with a rights issue worth Dhs1.5bn ($408m) this month. Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB) will offer 1.5 billion shares at Dhs1 each between January 25 and February 3, thus increasing its capital to Dhs3.93bn. Since last year, Dubai Bank is formally part of Emirates NBD, since it was rescued by the Dubai government in May 2011.

Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB) announced the successful integration of of Dubai Bank customers, branches and operations into its platform. The most branches have now been converted to EIB systems and brand. The remaining ones will undergo conversion at the beginning of December. EIB further explained that customers whose accounts have been migrated from Dubai Bank will receive new account numbers. The old account numbers and existing identification will still be valid for the foreseeable future across all banking channels.

Emirates Islamic Bank said it will sponsor the sixth Takatof Ramadan Project that was recently set up by the Emirates Foundation for Youth Development. The scope of the project is to create an interactive social network among all community and to help disadvantaged families.

Difficult funding in Europe is making Middle East issuers to tap the still-liquid Islamic finance markets for funds.
Dubai-based Emirates Islamic Bank issued a $500 million, five-year Islamic bond with a yield of 4.718%, while Abu Dhabi-based First Gulf Bank sold a $500 million, five-year sukuk with a yield of 4.046%.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation stated it plans to launch a government-guaranteed sukuk to pay for a new terminal at Jeddah airport, and Dubai-based Islamic mortgage company Tamweel announced a five-year, $300 million sukuk.
Majid Al Futtaim recently started a $1 billion Islamic bond program, while Doha Bank, Bahrain's Al Baraka Banking Group, Emirates Telecommunications Co. of the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., among others, could all be looking to issue Islamic debt this year.

Abu Dhabi's First Gulf Bank (FGB) has chosen four banks for a five-year benchmark-sized Islamic bond: Citi, HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered.
The timeframe for sukuk hasn't been decided yet.
Emirates Islamic Bank, is anticipated to print the first debt deal out of the Gulf, having launched price talk for a five-year, benchmark-sized sukuk.

Emirates Islamic Bank has agreed upon an initial price whisper in the area of 350 basis points over midswaps for its five-year sukuk.
The potential sharia-compliant transaction is being launched by Emirates Islamic Bank but is backed by its parent company ENBD.
Lead managers on the EIB deal are the following banks: National Bank of Abu Dhabi, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citi, RBS and ENBD Capital.

Ebrahim Fayez Al Shamsi, the chief executive of Emirates Islamic Bank, has resigned. His replacement will be deputy chief executive Abdullah Showaiter. Faisal Aqil, general manager of retail banking, will be the new deputy CEO.
Emirates Islamic and ENBD didn't want to comment.

UAE's Emirates Islamic Bank has admitted a net loss of $5.4m for the first quarter of 2011.
Dubai Financial Market posted that the bank's total income dropped 7.6% every year.

The number of projects registered under the Dubai Land Department’s (DLD) Tayseer programme has reached 114 and the first funding agreement under the scheme is expected to be finalised soon.
Until now, seven banks have signed with the DLD for financing under the Tayseer initiative. The banks are: Emirates Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Noor Islamic Bank, Mashreq, Dubai Bank and Ajman Bank.

Noor Islamic Bank has no plans to merge with another financial institution, it said in a statement on Sunday, dismissing speculation it may tie up with troubled Islamic lender Amlak.
A newspaper report last week said the UAE government was considering merging privately-held Noor Islamic with Emirates Islamic Bank — an affiliate of Emirates NBD — and Dubai Bank. The combined entity would then purchase Amlak.
Amlak’s fate has been in question since the long-touted plan for it to merge with rival Islamic lender Tamweel was scuppered after Dubai Islamic Bank raised its stake in Tamweel in September.
The two firms have not traded since November 2008 when the United Arab Emirates government stepped in to restructure them.
Media reports have circulated in recent days that Emirates Islamic Bank is in talks to buy Dubai Bank and then purchase Amlak.

Emirates Islamic Bank is in talks to acquire Dubai Bank and possibly Islamic mortgage lender, Amlak, Arabic Al-Ittihad has reported, citing unnamed sources. The move is in line with Dubai's efforts to integrate small and medium-sized banks into larger more competitive banking entities. Talks are in the initial stages for the acquisitions.

Gulf News published based on Bloomberg 15 January an article regarding the governmental approval for Emirates Islamic Bank, Kuwait Syrian Holding, and two Saudi investors from the Al Rajhi family to partner with Bahrain-based Albaraka Banking Group, setting up Al Baraka Bank-Syria. The bank plans an IPO at the end of Q1 to sell 35 % according to Amir Assassa, a founding member of Albaraka Bank-Syria. Assassa said that Albaraka Banking Group will own 23 % in the Syrian bank, Syrian investors 16 %, Emirates Islamic 10 % and Kuwait Syrian Holding, which is partly owned by the Al Kharafi Group, 5 %, he said.

Rania El Gamal reported on 23 April in Arabien Business that Kuwait's Abyaar Real Estate Development is in the process of getting a credit rating to help it sell between USD 250 to USD 500 mn of Sukuk for general expansion. Abyaar is talks with NBD Investment Bank, a unit of Emirates NBD. Merill Lynch is advising on the sale for another specific project in Dubai about USD 500 mn.

Abyaar has other financing arrangements with Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates Islamic Bank, Kuwait's Global Investment House and Rasameel Structured Finance.

Abyaar has said it wants to expand in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and is seeking opportunities in Turkey, Malaysia and Singapore.

Marzouq al-Rashdan is vice-president of Abyaar.

Source: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/517396-kuwaits-abyaar-seeks-credit-rating...

Business Intelligence reported on 9 April about the Islamic Visa card of Emirates Islamic Bank, Skywards, and Emirates.

The Emirates Islamic Bank Skywards Credit Card will come with a list of benefits and features.

Faisal Aqil is General Manager of Retail Banking at Emirates Islamic Bank. Kamran Siddique is Visa General Manager for the Middle East and North Africa.

Source: http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?c=3&cg=2&t=1&id=19053